Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

In the 2015 UMK was a battle anti-ESC like entry vs. very ESC like entry and sadly the first won, went to Vienna, scored last place in the semi-final. I can't even bother to link it here. Satin Circus however did their best to save the situation but came only second. Crossroads charted and played on radio and the band enjoyed some fame and popularity until the end in 2018. Paul Elias went solo and has scored minor hits since and Olli Halonen started his solo career a bit later but scored one of the biggest hits in 2022 and a couple of minor ones and expectations for his debut solo album to be released in 2023 are high. 

Softengine scored the best Finnish finish in the Eurovision since Lordi's win with their Something better in Copenhagen 2014. They released their debut album, got good critic abroad and for a while it seemed they would actually make it and become world known band. Then September one of the guys left the band and they continued as foursome, releasing singles and promised two EPs to be released. One came, the other never. Then May 2017 another guy left and they were three... Then we haven't quite  heard of them until now: lead singer Topi Latukka has released his debut solo single (but the band still exists). In Finnish. Pehmeitä pintoi is a far cry from bands rocky pop and flirts with today's radio friendly trends and thus remains rather anonymous sadly.... The year after Satin Circus was in UMK and instantly became a fan favorite with Crossroads . They already gained popularity before UMK but sadly Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät run over them for all the wrong reasons...

There were a lot of media fingers pointing at YLE and especially UMK as a failed production ( here , here , here  and here ). After Portugal's win the discussion has heated up again, and some are even demanding those responsable for UMK to resign, producer Anssi Autio especially. It has been noted out also that Portugal proved all the Eurovision mynths wrong:  1) You don't need a Swedish written/produced song to win,  2) You don't have to sing in English,  3) You don't need to do promotional tours and events,  4) You don't need a fancy and expensive video,  5) You don't need a voting block,  6) You don't need props and special effects on stage and  7) certainly you don't need fireworks and windmachines.  The Portuguese staging must have been the simpliest and cheapest since 1960's.  And all this right after when UMK people have been putting all their future effort in making huge stagings. IL clearly points the...

Today is Pertti Kurikka's 60th birthday. It also marks the end of the band with its farewell gig tonight. Tickets cost 60 cents. PKN is no more. Hallelujah!

After the huge media and social media outcry YLE's UMK producer Anssi Autio has met the press. When Sandhja didn't qualify for the final last night in the first semifinal, it marks only Finland's second run of two years in a row since the semifinals started 11 years ago as we missed the 2004 and 2005 finals (only to come back in 2006 and win it!).  People have critizid everything from singing offtune, to her dress, styling and choreography and staging. And the way she was selected. Saara Aalto and her fans are all over the press again....  This year the UMK voting had 50-50 televote and the civil juries, while last year it was 90-10 and both acts failed to qualify. Last year PKN won the televote, too, while this year Saara Aalto won it but lost to Sandhja in combined result. In 2014 Softengine finished 11th in the Eurovision final having been selected by combined televote/jury vote.  "I wouldn't start blaming the UMK voting system, but maybe we have to che...

The Finnish national final #UMK16 will take place tomorrow in Helsinki. In the end we will celebrate the 50th Finnish entry to the contest but tomorrow is also a celebration of 55 years since debut, and most importantly 10th anniversary of the monstrous win in Athens 2006. The Eurovision winners Lordi will be performing as guest stars, along with last year's entrant Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät. And like that wasn't enough, the one and only legendary Eurovision hostess, commenatator and national final hostess Jaana Pelkonen makes a comeback to the Eurovision bubble. Read more here . All these beautiful people and much more tomorrow night 9pm CET.  I will be live blogging so please do join me! For an interesting video how Tomi Putaansuu becomes Mr Lordi check here .  His three hours trasformation in one minute!

Jaana Pelkonen returns to the Eurovision stage when she will co-host the #UMK16 final next Saturday with Krista Siegfrids and Roope Salminen. She's done it many times before, she's been the Finnish commentator for years and when Lordi won in 2006 she was the unquestionable choice for the female host of Helsinki 2007 Eurovision song contest. Her being Eurovision fan started back in 1998 when Dana International won.... That was nine years ago, and last time she was involved in Eurovision was five years ago. Since then she's got into politics being a member of parliament - and in the last elections the most voted female politician in Finland. Not bad! Jaana found her ESC dresses in YLE's wardobe after 9 years She believes Eurovision and politics mix nicely together. They always have and always will. This year surely the refugee crisis will have its effect on the songs by some, and it's not a bad thing. Eurovision is a platform of 200 million people so wh...

The Nordic Party took place tonight in Vienna and the entrants from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland were present along with Estonia. My flying reporter Robert was present. Here are a couple of videos: Måns Zelmerlöw doing Heroes and Mørland & Scarlett doing Monster like me . Also Iceland and Denmark performed, Finland didn't and everyone was happy for that. Instead Estonia did. Here are some pics:

Not much to add here. The performance is the same, no changes but then there has not been any changes since the first performance in UMK. The old same and propably the only way to get through this. It seems the dry ice was missing today but will surely added to the semifinal act. I still have no clue if this is going to qualify. I guess not despite all.

Poor Dennis Heijnen of 12points.tv. When commenting about the Finnish entry and PKN he said they're not pretty and he doesn't like the song (well, who does? Honestly?) Next thing the news make all major news portals in Finland becoming the only major Eurovision news so far besides Trijntje's dress, he starts getting hate mail and today had to comment and clarify the matter for the Finnish media. I think he should have done nothing. Anyways, he explains it's all misinterpret and wrongly translated, he ment the guys of PKN aren't pretty like -insert any boyband's name here - or like the Russian grannies a few years ago when most everyone found them so adorable and cute that they wanted to vote for them. He has a point and an opinion, but all this Prettygate only underlines once again that the atmosphere here in Finland around them is that no one can say one bad word about them without being labelled and/or attacked. So much for respecting others and different o...

Finland's entry is so short they managed to rehearse it full five times and additional swearing between each take. The backdrop is blue and gold, there's smoke and spit. Luckily it's over in 85 seconds. It's four middle-aged handicapped men and Finnish punk. Enough said. And besides according ORF this was the Estonian entry. They can have it if we can have theirs? Now that the rehearsal is over until Friday they can dedicate to their wishlist of things to do in Vienna: drink alcohol, have cigarettes and visit some strip joints.....

If you have been having an irresistable desire to lick Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät guys' backside this springtime, now you can. Finnish Post has released today a stamp in their honor (I'm still wondering what happened to the elegant rule of releasing stamps only of dead people?) The stamp is good for a first class mail...... The drawings of the band members in the sheet are made by Pertti himself while the stamp is designed by Ari Lakaniemi and Susanna Rumpu, based on a photo taken by Pekka Elomaa.....

Now that we have the final line up both Iltalehti and Ilta-Sanomat launched their polls and it's embarassing to see for everyone but PKN.  Ilta-Sanomat is Finland's second newspaper with circulation nearly 120.000. In its poll 14.000 votes were given and PKN scored 45%. Second was Satin Circus with 17% and third Solju with 9%. They didn't reveal the other ones but that's already 71% so the remaining 29% is spead among the other six. Iltalehti, Finland's 6th biggest with circulation of about 78.000 but second biggest online right after Ilta-Sanomat (both over 300.000 daily) had 15.700 voters for its poll and it's even worse.... They revealed the whole list and it's below: 1. PKN - Aina mun pitää 56,1% 2. Satin Circus - Crossroads 14,4% 3. Angelo De Nile - All for victory  6,9% 4. Solju - Hold your colours  6,2% 5. Opera Skaala - Heart of light  4,9% 6. Shava - Ostarilla  3,3% 7. Norlan El Misionario - No voy a llorar por ti  3,3% 8. J...

Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät was founded sometime 7-8 years ago and recently they signed a deal with a major, Sony. Their claim to fame came in 2012 after a documentary film The Punk Syndrome that followed this band of learning disabled members, living with autism and Down syndrome. Since then they have performed regularly both in Finland and abroad. Their hobbies besides music include alcohol, flea markets and being lazy at home watching DVDs. Why should they go to Eurovision? "Because many Finnish musicians have won Eurovision back in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 60s. Like Juice Leskinen with Syksyn sävel ." Yeah right.  Timo: Oh dear lord... we have hit the rock bottom.... cannot say nothing else but... one star. 1/5 Michele: C'mon this is terrible, no sense at all. Can I give zero? No? ... next, please 1/5 Jack : If polls in Finland are to be believed, this handicapped punk band could be the ones heading to Vienna. Definitely a potential winner, and if they do ...